Today I was called on in Contracts. During this, my first summons, I ended up on the hook for three different but related cases which focused on the question of whether an offer had been made (versus just implied) for the purpose of determining whether a contract could be enforced. Exciting? …maybe not as viewed from the eyes of a “reasonable person,” but when you are on the spot in front of your classmates the urge to perform emerges. I didn’t have all the answers, but I had the ideas and fact patterns down pretty well.
This, however, is not a self-congratulatory post; rather, I hope to extrapolate from my humble experience today to those challenges faced by Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee. While I do not expect Gov. Palin or any other one person to have all the answers regarding how to solve our our country’s ills, I do expect those in positions of power, such as herself, to be able to articulate the basic ideas and fact patterns that lay before us.
A good, I dare say competent, leader knows how to take complex issues and give people an in as to their exploration; that is, the process of distillation helps us understand both what is and what one aspires to do about it. In this regard, Gov. Palin is a complete failure. Not only is she unable to tackle questions that she ought to be able to anticipate, but she also fails to lay out a convincing rationale for her own beliefs.
Perhaps I ought not be surprised, given the fact that Palin has been chosen for the express purpose of pandering to the faith-based community. But to that community, I ask, in what do you intend to place your faith? Since the Bible or a “value” can not serve as our leader we are forced to place our trust in humans, whose fallibility is guaranteed. Obama and Biden are fallible, as are McCain and Palin.
A rabbi who recently gave a lunchtime talk to a group of Jewish students here threw out an interesting point: the interpretation of the word of God by his messengers has itself become an ongoing continuation of that word. While one could argue that such a formula was probably fomenting in the mind of the Unabomber, the basic principle is sound; our being is not static and we must strive to make sense of what we are given from all sources.
After three weeks of legal studies I can say that much of what constitutes this human element in our system of justice can be found in decisions of merit as rendered by judges and juries. The Rules (of which there are many) help guide us in reaching just and equitable conclusions; we who chose are asked to find connections, discern intent and apply facts to that for which we ultimately have no guidance. This process, which occurs both with and without volition, a billion (or 700 billion) times a day, forms the lexicon from which new paradigms are promulgated when the times so demand. We are but the random ball rolling from the table; like the enigmatic neutrino, our rare moments of connection prove our very existence…
Governor Palin, who once struck me as a ballsy fighter, has proven herself to be yet another American who seeks to restrict rather than broaden this fundamental lexicon. As evidenced by current events that, if taken to their logical conclusion, may well precipitate the collapse of our society, the last thing we currently need is to narrow our already myopic focus. I do not elevate Obama and Biden to any sort of mythic status; the Democratic ticket’s humility, as opposed to the folksy opprobrium of its opponents, is emblematic of its embrace of the evolving word. In a world that appears to be getting the better of us (literally,) it’s right time we embrace the both.
WD,
Palin is an extreme fundamentalist, who believes in witch doctors, and would probably put jews in concentration camps if given the chance.
Face it, McCain has chosen an extreme right wing lunatic for VP running mate.
Seriously, she would put anyone she deems to be a witch, either in the fire, or in a concentration camp if she had unfettered power.
Do you think I’m wrong?
Or as Chris Rock put it on Larry King: A man with 12 houses can lose 6 of them, and still sleep soundly at night. A man with one house always worries about losing it.
McCain (according to Chris) is worth around 100 – $150 million. Obama is worth about $1 million. McCain has 12 houses (if he remembers the number correctly) Obama has only one.
Obama is the closest thing we have to a working class person, who understand the needs of the general population, for a candidate.
This is essentially what Chris Rock had to say….
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/opinion/27collins.html?hp
WD,
Interesting thoughts. As usual you laid out a well articulated comment. That said, I have not made up my mind on Governor Palin. Some people like to throw out the words, “extreme fundamentalist” but have no real clue what that actually means. It saddens me when people simply listen to the News Media or read a couple of bloggers that claim she is an “extreme fundamentalist” and then simply parrot those statements. It is unfortunate that people are unwilling to think for themselves.
That said, last night’s debate was fairly poor on both sides. Mr. Obama’s biggest mistake was when he continuously agreed with Mr. McCain. While one or two opportunities would have been a great way to show bipartisanship, by my count he agreed about 10 times. A viewer is left to wonder, if Mr. Obama is trying to link Mr. McCain to President Bush, and Mr. Obama is agreeing a lot with him, what does that say about Mr. Obama? I also thought Mr. Obama’s constant interrupting and his visible irritation were fairly notable. Mr Obama kept saying no, thats not true a tremendous amount. Finally, for the majority of the debate, Mr. Obama was playing defense. He spent the majority of his time refuting what Mr. McCain said and did not try to make his own points. And, with the infamous wrist band moment, he had to look down to it to see the name of the fallen soldier. Poorly played Mr. Obama.
On the flip side, Mr. McCain did not tell us what exactly he had accomplished in DC or why he was willing to potentially no-show the debate. Instead of showing America that Mr. Obama’s 95% tax cut is simply impossible (since 95% of the people don’t pay taxes) he allowed Mr. Obama to hit that point. He did not take the opportunity to point out that what Mr. Obama is talking about is really income redistribution. He also kept making references to his age, ie the Cold War, Henry Kissinger, his old pen, and how old he was. Not a good move, Mr. McCain.
Overall, I don’t think either candidate won this debate. Anyone thinking that Mr. Obama won the debate is deluding themselves. Likewise anyone thinking that Mr. McCain won is also not being objective. I don’t think the polls will move much from this debate and that is a bad thing for Mr. Obama. As we saw in the Democratic primaries, he has trouble closing the deal. People tend to jump away from him as the day to the elections close. We have also seen that Mr. McCain has been adept at changing people’s minds at the last minute. The longer this stays close, the worse news it is for Mr. Obama.
Obama,
-BT
It’s a shame when people don’t believe their very own eyes. Any political figure, who wants to be VP, is plain crazy to be caught on tape with a witch doctor doing chants and praying for her.
This is the same witch doctor/hunter that in an African nation, accused a woman of being a witch, and forced her out of her village.
It’s not a joke.
Watch the videos on youtube! Do you not believe what you see?
Please refrain from posting multiple replies with links to YouTube videos… this is a blog for discussion and this constitutes a certain breach of that etiquette. I hope that all readers will be comfortable to respectfully reply to one another (remember how Jim Lehrer was desperately asking Obama and McCain to address one another?) I reserve the right to remove any posts at my discretion that I do no believe comport to these standards.
We’re so screwed if these are the only leaders we can produce.